Made me by arte more cunning in the same. Fro thence I durst in derring doe compare With shepheards swayne, what euer fedde in field: And if that Hobbinol right iudgement bare, To Pan his owne selfe pype I neede not yield. For if the flocking Nymphes did folow Pan, The wiser Muses after Colin ranne. But ah such pryde at length was ill repayde, But better mought they haue behote him Tho gan my louely Spring bid me farewel, 61 A comett stird vp that vnkindly heate, That reigned (as men sayd) in Venus seate. Forth was I ledde, not as I wont afore, When choise I had to choose my wandring waye: But whether luck and loues vnbridled lore Would leade me forth on Fancies bitte to playe, The bush my bedde, the bramble was my bowre, The Woodes can witnesse many a wofull 91 And which be wont to worke eternall sleepe. But ah vnwise and witlesse Colin cloute, That kydst the hidden kinds of many a wede: Yet kydst not ene to cure thy sore hart roote, Whose ranckling wound as yet does rifelye bleede. Why liuest thou stil, and yet hast thy deathes wound? Why dyest thou stil, and yet aliue art founde? Thus is my sommer worne away and wasted, And all my hoped gaine is turnd to scathe. 100 mowne. My boughes with bloosmes that crowned were at firste, And promised of timely fruite such store, IIO And loathed Paddocks lording on the same. And where the chaunting birds luld me a Theyr rootes bene dryed vp for lacke of dewe, sleepe, 71 Yet dewed with teares they han be euer among. Ah who has wrought my Rosalind this spight To spil the flowres, that should her girlond dight? The ghastlie Owle her grieuous ynne doth keepe. Then as the springe giues place to elder time, And bringeth forth the fruite of sommers pryde: All so my age now passed youngthly pryme, To thinges of ryper reason selfe applyed. And learnd of lighter timber cotes to frame, Such as might saue my sheepe and me fro shame. And I, that whilome wont to frame my pype, Vnto the shifting of the shepheards foote: Sike follies nowe haue gathered as too ripe And cast hem out, as rotten and vnsoote. The loser Lasse I cast to please nomore, One if I please, enough is me therefore. 120 And thus of all my haruest hope I haue Cockel for corne, and chaffe for barley bare. 130 Sonowe hestormes with many a sturdy stoure, So now his blustring blast eche coste doth Scoure. The carefull cold hath nypt my rugged rynde, Tityrus) Chaucer, as hath bene oft sayd. Als of their) Semeth to expresse Virgils verse Deigne) voutchsafe. Cabinet) Colinet) diminutiues. Now leaue ye shepheards boyes your merry glee, Winter is come, that blowes the bitter blaste, Gather ye together my little flocke, And after Winter commeth timely death. GLOSSE. Mazie) For they be like to a maze whence it is hard to get out agayne. Peres) felowes and companions. Musick) that is Poetry as Terence sayth Qui artem Lions house) He imagineth simply that Cupid, Where I was) a fine discription of the chaunge of Then as) The second part. That is his manhoode. Cotes) sheepecotes. For such be the exercises of shepheards. Sale) or Salow a kind of woodde like Wyllow, fit to wreath and bynde in leapes to catch fish withall. Phæbe fayles) The Eclipse of the Moone, which is alwayes in Cauda or Capite Draconis, signes in heauen. Venus) .s. Venus starre otherwise called Hesperus and Vesper and Lucifer, both because he seemeth to be one of the brightest starres, and also first ryseth and setteth last. All which skill in starres being conuenient for shepheardes to knowe as Theocritus and the rest vse. Raging seaes) The cause of the swelling and ebbing of the sea commeth of the course of the Moone, sometime encreasing, sometime wayning and decreasing. Sooth of byrdes) A kind of sooth saying vsed in elder tymes, which they gathered by the flying of byrds; First (as is sayd) inuented by the Thuscanes, and from them deriued to the Romanes, who (as is sayd in Liuie) were so supersticiously rooted in the same, that they agreed that euery Nobleman should put his sonne to the Thuscanes, by them to be brought vp in that knowledge. Of herbes) That wonderous thinges be wrought by herbes, aswell appeareth by the common working of them in our bodies, as also by the wonderful enchauntments and sorceries that haue bene wrought by them; insomuch that it is sayde that Circe a famous sorceresse turned men into sondry kinds of beastes and Monsters, and onely by herbes as the Poete sayth Dea sæua poten. tibus herbis &c. Kidst) knewest. Eare) of corne. Scathe) losse hinderaunce. The flagraunt flowres) sundry studies and laudable So now my yeere) The last part, wherein is described his age by comparison of wyntrye stormes. Carefull cold) for care is sayd to coole the blood. Glee) mirth. Hoary frost) A metaphore of hoary heares scattred lyke to a gray frost. Breeme) sharpe and bitter. Adiew delights) is a conclusion of all. Where in sixe verses he comprehendeth briefly all that was touched in this booke. In the first verse his delights of youth generally. In the second, the loue of Rosalind, in the thyrd, the keeping of sheepe, which is the argument of all glogues. In the fourth his complaints. And in the last two his professed frendship and good will to his good friend Hobbinoll. Embleme. The meaning wherof is that all thinges perish and come to theyr last end, but workes of learned wits and monuments of Poetry abide for euer. And therefore Horace of his Odes a work though ful indede of great wit and learning, yet of no so great weight and importaunce boldly sayth. Exegi monimentum ære perennius, Therefore let not be enuied, that this Poete in his Epilogue sayth he hath made a Calendar, that shall endure as long as time &c. folowing the ensample of Horace and Ouid in the like. Grande opus exegi quod nec Iouis ira nec ignis, Nec ferrum poterit nec edax abolere vetustas &c. outweare: Loe I haue made a Calender for euery yeare, That steele in strength, and time in durance shall And if I marked well the starres reuolution, It shall continewe till the worlds dissolution. To teach the ruder shepheard how to feede his And from the falsers fraud his folded flocke to sheepe, keepe. Goe lyttle Calender, thou hast a free passeporte, Goe but a lowly gate emongste the meaner sorte. Dare not to match thy pype with Tityrus hys style, Nor with the Pilgrim that the Ploughman But followe them farre off, and their high steppes playde a whyle: adore, The better please, the worse despise, Iaske nomore. Merce non mercede. |